Alright. I think I fixed the pics. I found out that if I look at the forum through Microsoft edge browser, it doesn't know my google login so I can tell if it's public. When I use Chrome I'm always logged into google so I can always see my photos even if they haven't been made public. Super weird, but I thought I'd share in case anyone else (which I'm almost positive is no one) has had this issue.

Got this stuff in the mail the other day so I figured I'd give it a whirl with my 2007 Saturn Outlook. I googled how to get the google play store on the Amazon Fire HD8. It was super easy, but it is not "stock" for the tablet. It only allows Amazon app store. So, that took all of 10 minutes to find a handy guide. Paid $5 for Torque Pro and headed to the Saturn to conduct some tests.

For those uninterested enough to watch that clip, the thing was crazy responsive as far as RPM and MPH go. I think it is actually a hair faster than the analog gauges in the Saturn, so that's a plus. Latency was really the only worry I had. I may have mentioned this before, but I think the total cost for the OBDII bluetooth and the tablet was like $65 shipped. Can't beat that for a customizable speedo and gauge cluster. You can even do idiot lights I believe.

Just a size reference. I almost went with the 10.1" but rightly thought it would be too big.

I'll still try to keep some analog gauges such as fuel and a voltage meter, but this saves me abagillion headaches I could see coming with wiring. I've found a great resource for the 5.3 ECM harness online. There's a ton of information for these engines (duh) but having someone break it down into what you need and don't need helped. http://lt1swap.com/2000harness.htm

Time to work on the 300zx. First step was to move it.
Nudged it with the forklift at the brewery. When I say nudged, I mean "drove."

Then, there was the pesky problem of physical distance between my home and the warehouse. Which isn't as pesky if this Nissan actually went vroom. So, I came up with a solution:
Safety first!

You can see the high quality sidewall action in this shot. WTF was I thinking?

Well, we only broke the tow strap twice, which resulted in my tow-following distance becoming < 1ft. It was scary, but we got her in the garage. I also received my adapter plate and flywheel in the mail, so I'll go ahead and attach that to the LS in a bit with pictures to follow. Then I'll surgify the 300zed and send it to the scrapper. THEN I'll work on the Volvo, I promise.

Always doing a little at a time, but I feel awkward being so Nissan heavy on a Volvo forum so I haven't been posting anything of the nitty gritty of stripping down the Nissans...I guess that's the nature of the beast though.

I removed the knuckles and stripped down the subframe of the S13 Nissan front end. Harvested front calipers from Z32 (300zx) Did a five lug conversion.

And that'll give me some nice bigger brakes. As rusty as these parts are, they've actually got a surprising amount of life to them. Brake pads were hardly used. Rotors are straight, ungrooved, unwarped and in need of a light turn.

You can see the slight size increase but the massive surface area increase!

I ordered an Energy Suspension bushing kit for the whole car. Should be here soon. My plan is to strip down and paint the whole subframe today, then work on tearing out everything else I need from the 300zx.

Also, these bad boys came in the mail. Got a good deal on them. Voxx Torq/Mustang knockoffs. 17x8. Offset is close enough to stock 300zx they'll be outboard a bit more, but no worse than .7" I believe. I bought rims this size because I have Dunlop SP's that are 225/45/17, are 8 years old but only have 5,000 miles on them. Tires are more expensive than rims so... lol

All in all, making steady progress. Side note, these things:

From Harbor Freight are SCARY lol. I pulled a tie rod and two ball joints with this. Thing flew off and scared the absolute jeepers out of me. Not to mention how loud it is when it finally pops the ball joints off. I was not prepared for that lol.

Got some painting and cleaning done yesterday. Here's a reference for how bad the subframe was at the time of pulling:

Here's a bit of wire wheeling:

You can see all the grime on there. Wire wheels are super useful for just throwing that stuff all over whatever you're wearing. Anyway, I actually prefer that to any other method I've ever used for removing grease. I haven't tried pressure washing yet, but I doubt it would've done anything to this caked-on mess. Here's what it looked like after I scrubbed and degreased it and used all the towels.
You can see, in my pants, in that last pic, the result of wire wheeling grime off of a subframe. Science!

Primed:
As promised (actually I said gaudy shade of orange in a previous post. That color will be reserved for the accents).

If you're wondering why I would paint it either A) this color or B) before I know how I'm installing it in the 122, then the answer to both is the same: I gots the dumbs and I likes the paints.

Not sure if everyone's already tuned this project out, but I could use some help with this idea.

I was trying to take the brake booster and master cylinder off the 300zx which I realized would entail getting inside the car and working in the "footspace" of the vehicle. So, I sensibly decided to remove the dash. Now I wouldn't have to crawl upside down in my tiny garage until I inevitably passed out from being crushed under my own weight.

I then thought, "hey, look, air conditioning bits are **right there** I should just get those out and then I can have a/c in my Volvo. Without too much thought (obviously) I started the hour long process of removing the a/c evaporator from the cabin. Fun fact: there was zero refrigerant left in the lines. Funner fact: I didn't even think about discharging it until I cracked the lines of the evaporator and thought "shouldn't there be a hissing sound or something?" Just another case of expertly avoiding danger through accidental success.

Here's my thinking:

If I can get everything from the Nissan **but** the compressor, can I use the Chevy compressor with the Nissan other stuff (including electrical relays and switches) will that work together? I don't know anything about refrigeration, but I figure a compressor...compresses things and the other parts all work the sameish on every car. I'm sure there's nitty gritty, but in principal, will this work? Anybody know anybody who knows what I would need to frankenstein this together?

I got this out:

Could I pull the condenser, and the electrical paths and relevant lines, put them in the Volvo and use the Chevy compressor to run the refrigerant through the Nissan gear, install the fan and cooling unit in the Volvo and actually get cold air? It'd be interesting to try it out.

Also, guess who didn't pull the brake master cylinder or booster? This guy.

So. I'm working on my subframes, I'm running into snags with the Nissans rusty bolts on the halfshafts. In the mean time (since I'm sure you're all bored with Nissan stuff lol) I've been thinking about the look of the car. As soon as I get it rolling and running, the very next thing I'll have to do is cut the fenders and make flares, so It's something I have to have a plan for relatively soon.

I like bumpers as much as the next guy, but mine are BEAT, so I'm exploring options. A friendly user has offered use of a mold with which to make an IPD style front air damn, which I'm leaning toward. If I don't like it, I'm sure I could sell it. So, that's probably a go. My next thought is what to do about the fender flares. If you've ever seen the Super Amazon (I posted a picture of it on page one of this thread), his flares are very straightforward and beautiful. But I got to sketching and thought maybe something like this would be "cool"

More of a British/very old school tear drop flare. Or, I could go Full widebody in the back.

But that's very extreme. From the top it looks like an 72 911 or something lol. I'll most likely chicken out and go with some bland over-fender style, but still, the thought of having something very unique is always appealing. Anyway, your thoughts are always welcome, internet. In the end I'll do whatever I have time/motivation/warm fuzzy feelings about, but it always helps to know how much it will suck if I go through with it ahead of time.

Quite an undertaking, but very cool project! Kudos with having the kiddos too. Sleep much? Ha. Ihave read about your insperation vehicle, and makes one yearn.
As for the AC system, I would think it could be adapted from GM to Nissan. It has been done with Volvo equipment to GM compressor (screen name here M.H.Yount) and Ford compressor (TestPoint). I do believe you would want the Nissan's low and high pressure switching to save that portion of the system. Also, I would want to watch pressures during the recharge of the system rather than specified volume- tweak volume to get pressures correct.
Look forward to further updates and progress.

Quite an undertaking, but very cool project! Kudos with having the kiddos too. Sleep much? Ha. Ihave read about your insperation vehicle, and makes one yearn.
As for the AC system, I would think it could be adapted from GM to Nissan. It has been done with Volvo equipment to GM compressor (screen name here M.H.Yount) and Ford compressor (TestPoint). I do believe you would want the Nissan's low and high pressure switching to save that portion of the system. Also, I would want to watch pressures during the recharge of the system rather than specified volume- tweak volume to get pressures correct.
Look forward to further updates and progress.

Awesome! That helps a lot. I was thinking about keeping everything from Nissan except the in/out of the compressor since that will be GM. I'll keep your advice in mind once we cross that bridge. For now, that just confirms that I have even more stuff to take out of the Nissan...it's a never ending witch hunt

You can always bead blast and paint your bumpers for an economical performance look.

They're lumpy, bent, rusty and corroded, otherwise I would lol. I'm planning on doing a very intense paint job on this guy when it's ready, I don't want to have to coat the bumpers in metal-bondo just to make them smooth, and I'm not even sure I could hit them hard enough to straighten them. My backup plan was to straighten them as best I could, then try to use them as a plug for a fiberglass mold, then cast some carbon or fiberglass bumpers from that...so much work. I can probably find a set of bumpers in the sweet by and by.

Quit your over-priced liquid nonsense and stick to this stuff. It works SO much better than anything else I've tried to break free bolts and it's one of the cheapest options [end/rant]

What should have been a quick and easy hour and 45 minute job to get my diff out of the 300z quickly turned into a frustrating and difficult TWO hour job. I had to lower, but not remove, the exhaust, break a knuckle on my left hand with an odd u-joint impact extension that was okay at removing bolts, but really good about throwing sockets into my bones; and I lost not one, not two, but THREE 14mm sockets throughout the removal. But...here she is.

Like everything that's ever come off a Nissan, it's covered in at least 4mm of grime. Plans are to shim the diff to tighten it up, swap input shafts to 240sx and paint it either the gaudy blue or the gaudy orange or perhaps a gaudy purple like the "cool" drift crowd would.

Also,

That picture shows not only my future rear brake setup, but also a frustratingly annoying reason to have to own a 36mm socket. Yep. 36mm. Guess what the fronts are? Did you guess 36mm? Well, you'd be wrong, because for some dumbass reason they're 32mm (which I had already). So, needless to say, the hubs/backplate/uprights all were supposed to come off, but warranted another trip to Pep Boys for what I can only imagine will be a $38 socket.

Another crazy, spinning tale of my own inadequacy. If any of you are/know a hardcore Nissan guy, I could use some input.

I have yet to fully flesh this out, but here's where I've been dumb. What I know so far: The rears subframe of an S13 (a first gen 240sx for those that didn't drive import sport compacts in high school) is remarkably similar to the rear subframe of the Z32 (the second gen 300zx) as far as the control arms, etc. Also, the track width of the Z32 subframe is another 2" wider than the already-way-wider-than-the-volvo S13 subframe. The struts lean way in comparatively.

What I don't know: the geometry differences between the two. They could be the same, they could be different even with the same parts (anti-dive, etc is a positional thing). I won't know til I measure them, which will be hard lol.

Why it matters: If they're similar enough, I can simply throw the S13 subframe in the parts bin, and I can swap in the entire Z32 subframe since it would have the better axles. Where I'm dumb: If I had had this thought before, I wouldn't have dismantled most of the subframe before dropping it:

Wouldn't have pulled the diff and brakes if I'd known I was gonna drop the whole damn thing.

For what it's worth, there are some very old looking KYB shocks on this car, so that's a plus lol.

Anyone know anything about the handling capabilities of a z32/300zx? Not sure if they're renowned for cornering prowess. Is it better than/the same as/worse than the s13 subframe?

BTW, I am planning on this car being a corner carver/daily driver. Not gonna be a time attacker, not gonna be a cruiser, not gonna be a dragster. Just a fast, highly capable handling, fun to drive, hand built machine.

Here's some crude, roughed in photoshop rendering. You can see the larger hood, barely see a ducktail spoiler from this angle. Just a good concept pass. Not sold on the fender shape exactly (these are from a 50's ish Ford Anglia), but totally sold on the concept.

Again, that's just a rough pass. I took a bit (only a wee bit, mind you) more time on this angle. It's the same car I found on google images, but I've color shifted both to blue, which is close, but not exactly, like the color I have in mind. Here you can better see the ducktail. I really like them on classics. They're subtle, but classy IMO. Even with this rough stretching and pasting, I think this could be pretty dang awesome.

Rendering this bad boy makes me so flipping motivated, lol. I will still need better bumpers if I were to make it like this. I'd be stoked if it came out this good. Also, this makes me think I just need to suck it up and buy bigger rims and tires. My 225 cross sections aren't gonna do me any favors with a 350whp goal...Beefier the better, right?

I know! I love your build! You happen to know anything about the rear subframe of the 300zx vs the s13? I know s14/15 are superior in terms of geometry, but I don't know anything about where the 300zx is on the food chain of nissan subframes lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanMarino

Cool. I'm following this Voldemort-Volvo. I like the fenders in that 2nd rendering you did with the Volvo schematic/diagram. No way I could do any of that work.

Meaning the widebodyish one? I couldn't figure out a good way to photo shop it so it makes me nervous about building it from scratch. It does look pretty dope as a sketch, but photoshop is a much more reliable way of seeing if something will look good as a concept.

As far as the difficulty, I have literally never done anything this crazy, but the concept of working fenders from scratch isn't that hard. I plan on working from foam, sculpting to the right look, bondo, primer, then I can use that foam shell for a plug to make a mold from. That means I could pull multiple fenders from the molds if they turn out right. I did honestly think about finding some metal fenders from a classic car and cutting them up to fit the contour of the 122, but that actually seems harder since you can't go back if you mess up the cut.

So, got the transmission out yesterday. Golly jeepers! What in the wide world of sports were Nissan thinking with this bellhousing? I honestly don't know how one would EVER remove one of these transmissions without doing what I had to do. No room for a wrench, no room for a socket, no access from above (intake manifold and exhaust manifold and oddly the steering shaft are all in the way). Luckily, I only tried so many times before doing what I shoulda did from the get go:

That window I cut out is right where the HVAC distributor and heater core was. You can see about 3 inches of clearance between the firewall I cut and the transmission bolts. At that angle I couldn't fit any tool in there that would remove that bolt lol. This was the "elegant" solution.

Honestly don't know how you could get to these in that tight of a space. Super frustrating. Thing was like wrestling an alligator all by myself when I finally got all the bolts loose. Starter is also impossible to remove without dropping the whole exhaust off passenger side. Oh well, you can see the transmission between my legs (which I had to drag out the back of the car because it's so yuge) in this pick as my lovely wife stole a photo of the look of triumph and grease.

As I suspected, many of the parts are identical (this doesn't determine much as far as performance is concerned). That means I have to get the shell of this car outta the way, then I'll be able to measure the angles of the components on the suspension and measure their travel and such.

In the mean time, I'm going to make a negative jig of the suspension, rob a few more goodies off this 300zx and then send it to the scrap yard.

Also, read up some good info on how to make the A/C work. I can wire a switch directly to this guy:
It has a dual pressure switch right on there, which will ground when appropriate, which will then have to go through this guy:

which will go to the compressor on the Chevy (assuming it works).
Also, grabbed this radiator
and condenser.

Almost positive the condenser is fried and leaking. Took some damage during the crash that beached this whale, but a water test will reveal much.

So, 300zx had to go bye bye. Tow driver (from previous experience) can only get so far down my driveway because of an awning I have *stupidly* affixed to my door to "keep rain out" or something that isn't as cool as allowing tow trucks to get further in it. Anyway, I needed to move the Z, which had a front end, engine and wheels on hubs with no brakes, and no rear end. So, I quickly welded up some awesome supports.

Quick note about TIG welding in a hurry: you can't TIG weld in a hurry. Also, that's the second dolly that broke. The weight was sagging to the left due to a flat front tire and WAY too thin gauge metal for supporting the weight of even a stripped car.

The metal was as thin a gauge as you can buy and was insanely not strong enough. But, I didn't want the rear end to be scraping on the ground or riding on dolly's at that steep of an angle, so this was my solution, lol. It literally had to go 5 feet backwards...and that's literally how long it lasted.

It broke onto the tow truck...just like I planned...right...Off she went anyway.

On to the 5.3. I was told this is 2003 with very low miles, but as I stripped it down, I wasn't encouraged.

However, I took off the valve cover and took only this and another even-worse-even-closer shot of the springs. MAN that's clean. I'm tempted to be optimistic here.

I'll finish tear down soon, but if the crank and rods look this good, I doubt I'll go through the effort of a rebuild! Definitely needs a thorough cleaning and painting, but otherwise, a solid block and an exciting weight off my mind.

For now, I'm working on getting everything cleaned, painted and read for transplant in the coming months. I have to spend a bunch of time placing the volvo in the right spot after that. It probably won't move under its own power for a very long time. Unless you count gravity as its own power. Which I never do.

Been a hot minute. I've been doing some extremely boring things that are necessary, long and hard. Which was also the name of my sextape.

Firstly, I've been upgrading my collection of Harbor Freight Heroism.

to take out these:

from those:

I initially tried a ball joint press (giant C-clamp looking thing) which has adequate torque but has a hard time lining up with the grooves and stamps in the control arms. So, off to HF and away with a couple hundred smackers and now I can do whatever things the bourgeoisie do with their fancy presses.

I also bought a blasting cabinet while I was there. They redesigned the dreaded pickup tube. Now my only issues are media clogging which is only harbor freights' fault because that's also where I bought the media.

Also added a dessicant air dryer made from ultra safe, never enraging the internet, PVC and dessicant air indicator beads. I've got almost a gallon of them in there. It's incased in a "ballistic" shield of cheap wood and gives me unlimited bone-dry air.

One I had that press, I thought the hard work was over. I got these

Energy suspension kit. And wouldn't you know it? They're IMPOSSIBLE to get in. Don't know if energy is just not deserving of its reputation as a quality part maker, or if I am overly deserving of my reputation of infinitely decreasing competence.

I've read forums on Nissan energy suspension kits, watched videos about it and have concluded it's just going to be super, super hard. You can cut them and roll them and put them in, but that's not the way for me. So, my next thought is to press them in as far as I can and then squeeze them with a modified channel lock plier covered in tape.